Austrian bus driver returns half a million dollars found in bag

Vienna
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An Austrian driver found a bag left behind on a bus that was filled with a substantial amount of cash. He turned the bag over to local police and the money was eventually returned to its owner.

A bus driver working in Vienna found a bag filled with 390,000 euros ($509,700) in cash as he was inspecting his bus at the end of the route. As he was checking the bus, he found a bag stuffed behind the driver's seat. When he opened it he was surprised by his findings.

"At first I thought it was shopping or medicine," the man, identified only as Wolfgang R., told the Krone newspaper (courtesy of Reuters).

"I took the bag, looked into it and saw some of the money. There were many notes - something you never see," he told the media, reported BBC News.

News reports say the man immediately turned the bag over to local authorities who found a passport and bank deposit slip inside the bag; they were able to track down the woman who owned the money.

It turned out the owner of the cash was a 77-year-old woman who had withdrawn the money earlier in the day.

Media reports say it is unclear whether or not the driver received a reward, however, his boss expressed pride in his actions.

"We are proud to have such upstanding employees. This shows the spirit of our firm," Eduard Winter, head of Vienna's public transport company Wiener Linien, told the Kronen-Zeitung daily (courtesy of AFP).